EU Presidency Statement - Questions relating to Information

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, the associated countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, and the EFTA countries, members of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) declare that they align themselves with this statement.

First of all, I wish to congratulate the Bureau and all the members of the Committee on Information for their outstanding work during this crucial year. The excellent reports presented to the Committee and the texts approved in May will be very useful for the future course of the public information policies of United Nations and the DPI in particular. I would also like to express our appreciation for the constructive interaction between the management of DPI, the European Union and all the member of the Fourth Committee.

Mr Chairman,

I wish to reiterate the commitment of the EU to freedom of expression and information. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights provides that freedom of expression is a universal right regardless of borders, and that the freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected. The EU considers freedom of expression to be an issue of pivotal importance. Indeed it is the first casualty of regimes that do not respect human rights. It is highly regrettable that in many nations of the world a free press does not exist and the dissemination of information is limited and controlled. Independent media, which inform the domestic and international community, are a crucial element of democracy building.

Mr Chairman,

The new technologies create new challenges for the DPI: we need to strengthen its effectiveness and its capabilities to keep up with the latest technologies.

Not everyone is benefiting from the technological developments to the same extent. Too many people around the world lack basic needs such as water, education and health care. For them the Internet is still a distant dream. We are aware that the Internet cannot replace poverty eradication programmes, but we are convinced that developing and developed nations need to work together to bridge this divide and prevent poor nations from being left behind. Therefore, the EU is very pleased to see that the DPI's new mission statement reflects the guidelines set forth in the Millennium Declaration, by focusing on poverty, conflict prevention, sustainable development, human rights, the battle against HIV/AIDS, the fight against international terrorism, and the needs of the African continent.

Mr Chairman,

Not only the DPI, but other UN departments can and must help inform the international audience of the aims, activities, goals and achievements of the United Nations. Open and ready access to ideas and information is fundamental in order to engage people in democracy - at a national and international level. This is why the EU considers it essential for the United Nations to make communication and information strategies an integral part of its strategic management.

At the last session of the Committee on Information, we discussed at length the future role of the DPI. The EU remains fully supportive of the important role to be played by DPI to contribute to the achievement of the UN's purposes.

Even if we are convinced that the website will continue to grow in the future, we feel that the further development of the website cannot be separated from the other activities of DPI. In this regard, the EU would like to express its appreciation for the DPI's efforts to prioritise its resources to ensure that the UN's message is delivered with the appropriate technology, making use of the appropriate mix of communication tools, to reache the correct audience.

Mr Chairman,

The global message of the UN must be delivered worldwide to a local audience in a local voice: a voice that all citizens of the world can easily understand. In this regard, we recognise the efforts made by DPI and other UN Departments to put a range of valuable information on the web in the six official languages. We particularly welcome the fact that the UN News Centre is now available in the six UN official languages. Enhancing multilingualism as an integral part of the daily work of updating and developing the UN website is crucial for the UN to ensure a multilingual approach to public information - within budgetary constraints.

Mr. Chairman,

We would like to briefly address the issue of the regionalization of the United Nations information centres - UNICs, as a means of rationalizing the DPI's Networks and maximizing its reforms. The EU has set the pace accepting DPI's reduction plan that entails the closure by 31 December of the nine centres located in Athens, Bonn, Brussels, Copenhagen, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Paris, and Rome and the establishment in Brussels - thanks to the offer made by the Government of Belgium that includes rent free premises - of a regional United Nations information centre on 1 January 2004, known as the Western European hub.

Mr Chairman,

To this purpose, there has been an intense process of consultation between the EU member states and the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, due to the importance that the EU attaches to maintaining strong UN Public Information capabilities.

The EU intends to follow up this process until the regionalization plan is accomplished. We are convinced that the adoption of streamlining and rationalization measures must improve the capacity of the UN to deliver information in Western Europe, and that the UN will ensure that in all EU member states the level of information concerning its activities will not be affected by the closure of centres but will benefit from this reform.

The EU looks forward to cooperate with the DPI to make a success out of this initiative, hoping that the lesson-learned will be useful to implement the rationalization process in other regions of the world when regionalization is replicated.

Finally the EU reiterate its strong condemnation of the use of violence to silence journalists or otherwise obstruct their work. We strongly condemn any attempts to control or to influence the media with the aim of distorting or suppressing information and opinions. Likewise, we condemn the use of media for propaganda purposes, for example to incite ethnic hatred and violence.

Mr Chairman,

Let me take this opportunity to pay respect to all those journalists who gave their lives in the performance of their duties in countries all throughout the world.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Committee on Information  (26/4/2004)
• EU Presidency Statement - Committee on Information (28/4/2003)
• EU Presidency Statement - 24th Session of the Committee on Information (22/4/2002)